Television series

Bluey

Name: Bluey
Genre: Comedy, Children
Released: 2018
Cast: David McCormack, Melanie Zanetti

Bluey follows a hyper-imaginative Blue Heeler puppy and her family through the vast, tiny dramas of being six: games that spiral into whole worlds, negotiations over whose turn it is, the low-grade heartbreak of a popped balloon. Seven minutes long and endlessly rewatchable, it's a kids' show that quietly wrecks adults too, because underneath the games is a genuinely tender portrait of tired, loving parenting.

TVMaze rating

7.0

If you liked this

Hey Duggee2015

Runs on the same engine — a beloved, endlessly patient adult figure supervising small creatures as ordinary afternoons become quests. Gentler and sillier, with the same generous love for kids' own logic.

But Less emotional heft for adults; it's built purely for the under-fives, without Bluey's parenting-life undertow.

Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood2012

Where Bluey shows resilience being built, Daniel Tiger sings about it directly — turning tantrums, fears and sharing dilemmas into jingles kids actually use during real meltdowns.

But More overtly educational and repetitive; the songs will lodge in your skull for the rest of the week.

Sarah & Duck2013

British whimsy at its gentlest: a girl and her duck wander through days where a lost shoe or a talking scarf becomes an event, with the same unhurried, imaginative warmth as Bluey.

But Almost nothing happens by design — kids raised on faster shows may find it too soft and slow.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood1968

Both shows share Bluey's founding belief, dressed decades apart, that play and small domestic moments are the actual curriculum of childhood, and that adults who take them seriously are doing something important.

Decades before Bluey, Fred Rogers built an entire show on the same radical idea — that a child's small feelings, jealousy, fear of the dark, a broken toy, deserve slow, serious, unpatronising attention from a calm adult.

But Glacially slow by modern standards, low-budget puppetry and studio sets that ask real patience of contemporary kids.

Peppa Pig2004no page yet

The reigning family-cartoon institution, and for good reason — sibling bickering, muddy puddles and exasperated-but-loving parents, told in the same blunt, funny observational style Bluey later perfected.

But Thinner and more repetitive than Bluey, with far less interest in what the adults are actually feeling.

Craig of the Creek2018no page yet

Takes Bluey's central trick — backyard games escalating into full mythologies — and hands it to slightly older kids building an entire summer-long universe out of a suburban creek.

But Longer episodes and bigger kid casts feel less intimate than Bluey's tight family focus.

We Bare Bears2015no page yet

Three bear brothers navigate the world with the same messy, competitive, deeply loyal sibling energy as Bluey and Bingo, just with more slapstick and city-set misadventures.

But Aimed a notch older, with jokes and pacing that skew toward tweens rather than preschoolers.

Puffin Rock2015no page yet

A gentle Irish import about a puffin chick and her fretful little brother exploring a windswept island — quieter and nature-focused, but with the same tender sibling core.

But Very slow and soft-spoken; kids wanting Bluey's energy and jokes may get restless.

The Amazing World of Gumball2011no page yet

If you want the family-sitcom-as-cartoon idea pushed into full anarchic chaos, Gumball's cat-and-goldfish siblings deliver sibling rivalry and parental exasperation dialled up to surreal extremes.

But Far weirder and more frantic than Bluey, with humor that leans absurdist rather than tender.

Boyhood2014

Bluey turns a Sunday afternoon into mythology; Boyhood does the same trick in reverse register, treating unremarkable years as the real substance of a life rather than the gaps between big events.

Richard Linklater's film follows one boy from six to eighteen, shot year by year, finding the same quiet miracle Bluey does — that ordinary domestic scraps of time are where a childhood is actually built.

But Nearly three hours, live-action, melancholic and adult in its concerns — the polar opposite of a seven-minute cartoon romp.

BoJack Horseman2014

Both use cartoon animals as a Trojan horse for serious truths about family — Bluey to show love done well, BoJack to show the wreckage when it isn't; same device, opposite moral temperature.

Takes the anthropomorphic-animal-family device Bluey uses so warmly and follows it to its darkest possible conclusion — a show just as interested in parenting and childhood damage, but bruised, adult and unsparing.

But Genuinely bleak, with addiction, depression and cruelty played for real pain, not the gentle life-lessons Bluey traffics in.